Her passing came two days after her mother's death from the same disease. None of them were vaccinated, Fusco said. In districts around the country, several teachers who spoke to CNN reported being at their wits end: constantly being asked to do more with less while feeling like their anxieties arent being heard. Polk County Public Schools say a dozen employees have died from the coronavirus since school began on Aug. 10, according to multiple outlets. You are risking your life every day going to work, she said. Jamie Morris, 40, was a 7th-grade teacher at Pierce County Middle School and a father of three. Breaking down the cost of vaccine hesitancy would be simple if we could draw a causal relationship between Republican leaders anti-vaccine messaging and the adoption of those ideas by Americans, and then from those ideas to deaths due to non-vaccination. As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Both closed on March 13, 2020 and were the last in the state to reopen in October. (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images). Opinion: Too many parents and decision makers treat teachers like they don't matter. All Rights Reserved. Once an assistant coach at Andrew Jackson High School, Shell taught physical education and coached football, girls weightlifting and girls flag football at Jean Ribault High School. The U.S. reported almost 4.22 million new coronavirus cases in August alone, making it the. Vasquez said she recognizes the difficult choices that school officials have to make. Democrats are not without fault, though. hide caption. "This sad statistic underscores the impact of misinformation and disinformation efforts through some vocal entities, who quite frankly profess anything but scientific reality," Carvalho said. The state now has seen 17 deaths, and American Academy of Pediatrics Florida President Lisa Gwynn said many of them may have had underlying medical conditions when they became infected.. One wrote: My son would always come home and share stories about what she told him about history. She was uncomfortable with the high coronavirus case numbers in the county, coupled with a lack of testing for employees and students. We know that as of April 2022, about 318,000 people had died from COVID because they were unvaccinated, according to research from Brown University. "And then the sense of anxiety that our governor's interfering with the safety protocols and wanting to block the mask mandate because they know it's an extra layer of protection. The county has now recorded at least 42,482 confirmed cases and 689 deaths. According to his wife, Morris died the evening of Sept. 4 at St. Vincents Medical Center Riverside in Jacksonville. Reuters Fact Check. yourNEWS is a hyper-local social news and advertising platform. A student arrives for the first day of classes on Aug. 23 at a public school in Miami Lakes, Fla. At least 13 employees of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools have died from complications of COVID-19 since Aug. 16, according to district officials. PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMe to raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. Shell played college football at Jacksonville University and spent several years in the Canadian Football League. So each Sunday, as the prospect of making it through another work week looms over her, Hare said she finds it difficult to sleep. The delta variant-driven COVID-19 surge made August one of the worst months of the entire pandemic. Another 11,470 people died within 21 days of having their second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and 182 people died within 21 days of having their second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine whose death allegedly involved Covid-19. Six of those teachers and staff members have died since Aug. 17, in just over 30 days. We felt a duty and responsibility to remember and to document as best we could the teachers, the bus drivers, the principals, the key people who keep our schools operating day in and day out, Lesli Maxwell, managing editor of Education Week, told CNN. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. International Committee of the Fourth International, COVID, Capitalism, and Class War: A Social and Political Chronology of the Pandemic, Sign up for the WSWS Educators Newsletter, scheme to distribute vaccines to wealthy, affluent communities, One year of the COVID-19 pandemic: A disaster caused by capitalism, School worker deaths mount in Florida as virus spreads without restraint, Florida Governor DeSantis prioritizes vaccine rollout for wealthier communities. Since they reopened on October 9, Broward County has had 2,279 students and 1,627 employees test positive for COVID-19. It is the first time in two months since the delta variant-fueled wave started June 18 that weekly cases have . In fact, recent studies have concluded that in-person classes arent significantly contributing to coronavirus spread an in-depth look at two US schools released last week found that there was no evidence of student-to-teacher or teacher-to-student transmission when proper precautions were taken. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. Three teachers in Florida's second-largest school district have died from Covid-19 within two days of each other, union officials say. She was like her grandmother. However, otherwise healthy kids are now facing multisystem inflammatory syndrome about a month after they become infected by the virus. and that mortality rates per 100,000 are lowest among the unvaccinated. According to his Facebook, Hubbard was a Marine Corps vet and served as a praise and worship leader at his church. The district called each death "a devastating blow" to the community in a statement obtained by NBC News. The mask mandate was a violation of an order signed by Florida Gov. 'The end of the beginning.' Supporters of the Chicago Teachers Union prepare for a car caravan on January 30. Rev. She leaves behind two young children. The anti-science messaging that fuels such a divide is popular with Republican leaders because it plays so well with their constituents. The syndrome can also affect individuals with mild cases. appreciated. One of the most compelling studies comes from researchers at Yale, who published their findings as a working paper in November. It's just a covering.". The death of Patrick Key, an elementary school teacher in Powder Springs, Ga., who lost a monthlong battle with Covid-19 on Christmas morning, intensified pressure to halt in-person learning in. The board allowed for parents to have their children "opt out" of wearing a mask. A fleet of Broward County School Buses are parked in a lot on July 21, 2020, in Pembroke Pines, Fla. Three county educators have died of complications from the coronavirus. But after vaccines became available, that gap widened dramatically to 10.4 percentage points, again with a higher Republican excess-death rate. No country has a perfect COVID-vaccination rate, even this far into the pandemic, but Americas record is particularly dismal. Two educators in the same Georgia school district died within hours from Covid-19, What is the magic number for them? Gotreaux said. In the same time period, the political gap in death rates increased sixfold. A student arrives for the first day of classes on Aug. 23 at a public school in Miami Lakes, Fla. While new cases and deaths continue to mount, Florida school superintendents have been ruminating in the press about how they would have liked to reopen schools earlier. The state health department reports that Florida leads the nation in the number of cases of infections from COVID-19 variants that have mutated. 2 Days Into The School Year, A Florida District Asked 440 Students To Quarantine, Florida Gov. Whether to teach K-12 students virtually, in-person or through a combination of the two is an issue that has divided people in many of the nations largest school districts. At least 25 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have made some or all teachers eligible for a coronavirus vaccine as of February 1, Education Week reports. Follow-up research published in The Lancet Regional HealthAmericas in October looked at deaths from April 2021 to March 2022 and found a 26 percent higher death rate in areas where voters leaned Republican. Published A 30-year teaching veteran was one of 15 Miami-Dade County public school staff members who died of COVID-19 in just 10 days as Florida continues to reel amid the continuing, overwhelming toll of an unfettered pandemic. Both Mark McCall, 60, and his son Britt, 35, worked as foremen on Duval County Public Schools maintenance team. Christopher Terrazas, who teaches English and language arts to sixth graders in the same San Antonio school district, considers teaching his true calling and cares deeply about his students. His spokesperson, Christina Pushaw, instead pointed to a statewide decrease in pediatric hospitalizations over the past two weeks. On top of that, teachers have experienced burnout over the last year when combining the stress of the pandemic, teaching both online and in-person classes and an increasing workload. Some 15 million people died during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, new figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest. They chose to analyze data from Florida and Ohio from before and after vaccines were available. Stephanie Yocum, president of the Polk Education Associate, criticized the state's "laissez-faire" approach to the situation "as far as the mitigation strategies and being very restrictive to local government from local school boards and what we can and can't do.". To qualify for state funding, every school district in Texas is required to offer an in-person learning option unless the state makes an exception due to high coronavirus spread. News helicopters flying over Miami have shown video footage of very long lines of cars waiting early in the morning for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) site at Miami-Dade College to be opened, and reports are emerging that many who were not eligible under current state guidelines were still able to receive shots there last week. Schools in Florida are currently required to allow families the option to opt out of mask requirements, per DeSantis, and individual school districts have been battling the state over their right to enact such mandates in classrooms. And then the deaths that were reported.". The right-wing media have leaned even harder into vaccine skepticism. The teachers union said it's not clear if. DeSantis Expands Monoclonal Antibody Treatments Amid COVID-19 Spike, Florida's Governor Says School Leaders' Salary May Be Withheld If They Require Masks, An 8th-Grader Finally Returns To School In Person, Hoping It Lasts. Far-right crowds cheer for missed vaccine targets and jokes about executing scientific leaders. Jackson previously worked for Florida School for the Deaf and Blind for 15 years before joining St. Johns County School District where she had worked for the past decade. #TrojanPride pic.twitter.com/0GKMv7yuva. STAY UPDATED:Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories. The Florida Department of Health reported that 10,513 children under age 18 have tested positive since schools started reopening for in-person teaching, an increase of 34 percent. Across the U.S., the American Federation of Teachers lists 210 union members who have died. The deaths were all recorded within a 24-hour span, according to union officials representing employees of the local school district. The two were mother and. The deaths so far are enough to worry educators and school staff in some districts. Why are we so insignificant?. Unfortunately, we dont have the data to do so. But she wishes school officials cared about their teachers. He also coached middle school soccer and football. We are very happy to see that pediatric hospitalizations are not, in fact, increasing, Pushaw said. Even when vaccines came around, these differences continued, Mauricio Santillana, an epidemiology expert at Northeastern University and a co-author of the study, told me. Amanda Winkle is the digital content manager for Action News Jax. Then the notices about Covid-19 cases at the school started coming in, including two in his own classroom. The fact that her husband, also an educator, is still recovering from Covid-19 doesnt help. The district has an online portal that tracks COVID-19 cases among its employees and staff, and it is continuing to urge all of those who are eligible to get vaccinated. The culture around social distancing and other safety protocols seemed to ease up over time, with no one strictly enforcing the rules, he said. Ron DeSantis ahead of his 2022 reelection bid. Broward County Teachers Union President Anna Fusco issued a But in that delicate balancing act, she said, she feels that the concerns of teachers arent given the same consideration. The American Federation of Teachers, one of the nations largest teachers unions, estimates more than 530 of their members died of the virus last year. Children arrive, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021, for the first day of school at Washington Elementary School in Riviera Beach, Fla. | Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo. It reads in part: She never hesitated to offer her support to anyone in need. Ever since her school district announced a return to in-person classes last October, the 26-year-old has been frustrated by the decisions made by local and state leaders. If a significant number of students elect to be in the classroom in a given district, in-person teaching staff will be needed to support them. For Isabel Alvarado Vasquez, a second grade teacher in San Antonio, Texas, the loss has hit close to home. Fact Check: Did Florida Gov. Areport published by the ONSon September 13th 2021 misled the public into believing the majority of Covid-19 deaths were occurring among the unvaccinated population. Many students in Florida also attended schools in-person during the previous school year. While the 17 child deaths may seem low compared to the older adults, the increase of six deaths in August is an inevitable result of more kids becoming infected, according to officials at the Wolfson Childrens Hospital in Jacksonville. According to the posts, the CDC stated that the other 94% of people died from other causes, and that only 9,210 people have died from COVID-19. Read it at . On top of all that, theyre seeing colleagues getting sick and even dying of Covid-19 and worry they or their loved ones could be next. She truly cared about our kids, especially their feelings.. These include teachers, maintenance workers, bus drivers, office assistants, custodians, and sports coaches. Kevin Brown, executive director of the Texas Association of School Administrators, said he understands how educators are feeling. Based on Public Health Scotland data seen in the following chart it would seem the top pre-existing condition of those whove died with a positive test result for Covid-19 has been dementia, followed by heart disease and chronic respiratory disease. Woolfs work suggests that over the decades, state policy decisions on health issues such as Medicaid, gun legislation, tobacco taxes, and, indeed, vaccines have likely had a stronger impact on state health trajectories than other factors. That's about 2.7 . Teachers in at least five states have died from COVID-19 since the fall semester started, The Washington Post reported Thursday . In an environment where partisanship trumps allincluding trying to save peoples livessuch messaging is both politically effective and morally abhorrent. Only Texas has lost more officers to COVID-19 than Florida, with 151 of its 160 line-of-duty deaths due to the coronavirus. How many Florida teachers died of Covid-19 this past week? The impromptu overnight event was one of three in the city, organized late at night at two University of Washington vaccine clinics and one Swedish Health Services vaccine clinic, to ensure COVID-19 vaccine doses from an area hospital did not go to waste. But those figures may have actually been published by accident. All three worked at elementary schools and . A fleet of Broward County School Buses are parked in a lot on July 21, 2020, in Pembroke Pines, Fla. Three county educators have died of complications from the coronavirus. The GOP governor has built a national reputation for resisting coronavirus restrictions and has spent weeks fighting against school districts that want to require students to wear masks in schools. SEATTLE, WA - JANUARY 29: People wait in line for a last-minute COVID-19 vaccine event at Seattle University after a freezer failure at a nearby hospital on January 29, 2021 in Seattle, Washington. Theres no definitive number that records exactly how many teachers, administrators and school employees have died of Covid-19, though new reports of deaths seem to surface with increasing frequency. Even with this new research, it is difficult to determine just how many people died as a result of their political views. The two married teachers in Grand Prairie, Texas, who died holding hands. Six of those teachers and staff members have died since Aug. 17, in just over 30 days. They were pastors and custodians. But by publishing those figures they accidentally revealed that 30,305 people had died within 21 days of having a Covid-19 vaccine in England between January 2nd and July 2nd 2021. That said, weve had teachers, coaches, principals, and superintendents get ill on a pretty regular basis and die, Brown said. China's official count 0 2.5 million . No country has a perfect COVID-vaccination rate, even this far into the pandemic, but America's record is particularly dismal. Florida officials reported 150,118 coronavirus infections from Aug.13-19. But given how events have unfolded in her district after the death of three educators, submitting her resignation letter wont be hard. Since the first death attributable to COVID-19 was reported in the United States on Feb. 29, 2020, an estimated 612,973 Americans have died and as . She was the most genuine and sweetest person that walked the Earth. Misinformation #10: One in five people get long COVID The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims that 20% of COVID infections can . A further 123,796 people also died 21 days or more after having the Covid-19 vaccine, but its impossible to know the exact parameters for the other deaths. Our final recorded deathon Sept. 14, 2022was teacher Jennifer Hawkins Mason, 61, who taught at Farmingville Elementary School in Ridgefield, Conn. Action News Jax facebook feed(Opens a new window), Action News Jax twitter feed(Opens a new window), Action News Jax youtube feed(Opens a new window), St. Johns County middle school teacher dies of COVID-19; family says she always put students first, Deputy with the St. Johns County Sheriffs Office laid to rest, River City Science Academy mourns loss of 3rd-grade teacher, Assistant principal at Arlington Middle School dies unexpectedly, school officials say, Jacksonville high school football coach dies from COVID-19, Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories, JSO K9 escapes kennel, bites three people in Jacksonville neighborhood, To know Nancy was to love Nancy: St. Johns County woman killed in suspected DUI crash, Florida woman accused of killing terminally ill husband has been released from jail, St. Johns County Sheriffs office investigates robbery at Fresh Market in Ponte Vedra, JSO says missing child alert results in deadly drowning.